The Atlas rocket in front of the science museum in Ottawa is coming down. Despite the extremely light balloon tank structure, it has stood upright, out in the weather for over 40 years. Are there any other such rockets preserved?

The museum itself has suffered from years of neglect and is now closed because the roof leaks.

The monies collected (if any) will be 100% used to stop the vehicle's imminent destruction and to transport it to a suitable home at a yet to be determined location.

The main point of this campaign is to demonstrate to the powers that be, the National Museum of the USAF and the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology the the public cares about this vehicle and to hold off the bulldozers and torches and fund the maintenance of the vehicle in its current state until a proper move can be accomplished.

If you cannot donate I completely understand. No one has deep pockets for this sort of thing. If you cannot donate then call/message the USAF museum and the Canadian museum to tell them to hold off destruction.

Public outcry backed up with a plan is the only thing that's going to save this Atlas from the scrapper.

I thought back in the 90's the Atlas at the Air Force Museum had was setup outdoors and was struct by lightning causing it depressurize and collapse. I vaguely recall something about that years ago.

I might be wrong, but wiki on currently displayed Atlas's

Quote

HGM-16F Atlas is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. For years the missile was displayed outside the museum. In 1998 it was removed from display. It was restored by the museum's restoration staff and returned to display in the museum's new Missile Silo Gallery in 2007. The white nose cone atop the museum's Atlas is an AVCO IV re-entry vehicle built to contain a nuclear warhead. This nose cone actually stood alert in defense of the United States, as it was initially installed on an Atlas on 2 October 1962 at a Denton Valley launch site near Clyde, Texas.(The National Museum of the United States Air Force does not have an Atlas on display currently; they do have two in storage, these are visible on the Behind the Scenes Tour.)

Atlas 5A (56-6742) is on display on the lawn in front of the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Canada.(5A was on display throughout the 1960s at the former location of the Air Force Museum, at Wright-Patterson AFB Building 89 near Xenia Drive in Fairborn, Ohio. Formerly a static-test article, it is the only surviving Atlas in the original A-series configuration, before the boat-tail modifications that solved thermal issues which caused the early termination of the first two Atlas test flights, 4A and 6A.)

Atlas 8A is displayed in front of the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Nebraska; reconfigured as an Atlas D.Atlas 2E is on display in front of the San Diego Air & Space Museum at Gillespie Field, El Cajon, California.Atlas 2D mounted with a Mercury capsule is on display in the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida

I remember back in the early 2000's seeing one on display in Huntsville, what happened to it?

Cut it into tiny pieces? A real shame. More than a shame, but I don't want to write the words. The only A-series Atlas that survived in its original form. This thing is a real piece of history, representing the configuration of the very first Atlas (4A) flown during the massive ICBM Cold War effort. Missile 5A is the oldest surviving Atlas - a contemporary of the Navaho G26 that survives at the Cape. Missile 5A was test fired 11 times on Test Stand 1-1 at Edwards Rocket Base in 1957, the second Atlas tested there and the fourth Atlas test fired anywhere. I'm very surprised that it cannot be saved, that no one wants it saved. (Well, I want it saved.)

BTW, this thread should be retitled to something like "Historic Atlas Missile to be Scrapped".

The story notes that this Atlas is serial number 56-6742, and that "it is possible that the Air Force Museum could assign the rocket to another museum if that entity paid for its move and restoration".

If you guys can get it to my land, I would be happy to handle the zoning issues and hosting the hardware. My land virtually never sees rain, so it is like the boneyards in Mojave where aircraft are stored.

and, I have an empty structure (a car garage) that is 44 feet long and about 30 feet high, maybe it could house the hardware in a semi-erect position.

Presumably it also needs the leaks plugged before anything can be done with that. And you'd have to disconnect what is probably an electric compressor and attach another compressor that was transportable, maybe battery powered.

Sadly, it strikes me that moving this would require a fair amount of prep work and some specialized equipment, and probably some special permits for transport (maybe special paperwork to ship it across a national border) and none of that is going to happen in a few weeks or in winter. I think this one is a goner.

Presumably it also needs the leaks plugged before anything can be done with that. And you'd have to disconnect what is probably an electric compressor and attach another compressor that was transportable, maybe battery powered.

The specialized trailer could hold the vehicle in stretch, eliminating the need for pressurization